Isro plans landing near moon’s south pole with Chandrayaan-2

With the much-awaited Chandrayaan-2 mission, India’s second flight to the moon, Isro is attempting to pull off a daredevil manoeuvre. It will be the first-ever mission to soft land near the moon’s south pole, which poses a number of challenges.

“We have identified two locations and will be choosing one. No other moon mission has landed in this area,” said former Isro chief AS Kiran Kumar on Saturday, who retired as Isro chairman last month.In preparation for this touchdown, landing simulations are currently on at Isro’s Liquid Propulsion System Centre at Mahendra Giri in Tamil Nadu. The exercise involves a prototype of the lander simulating a soft landing from a height of 70-80 metres.

He said Chandrayaan-2’s flight hardware was getting ready and the launch could take place either in the first quarter of 2018 or second half. He said Chandrayaan-2’s flight hardware was getting ready and the launch could take place either in the first quarter of 2018 or second half. The rocket which will fly Chandrayaan-2 will be the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II.